Please forgive me if you find the title not really suitable for this article. But then, I couldn't resist!. It is true that Coke and Pepsi are having a tough time in countries like India in recent years. There were reports that confirmed that these colas and soft drinks contained pesticides way above permissible limit. These companies ran into issues like exploiting water resources and retailers refusing to sell products etc.

But then some farmers in India turned this information to their advantage. Hundreds of farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states in India discovered that spraying their cotton and chilly crop with Coke, is much cheaper and as effective as the prohibitively expensive, patented pesticides being marketed by multinational chemical companies. Good for them!

It is then I found out that Coca Cola can be a real handy thing to keep at home. There are many things that you can do with coke. I am sure people who are more adventurous and experimental must have discovered more uses for Coke. I will try to list some of the uses I know.

• There are softwares with which you can make your digitized photos into an old sepia tone. But how will you render the same effect to the new color photo print that you have done yesterday? Well, its really easy, Get Coke!. Just brush the photograph lightly with Coca Cola and dry quickly. You can use cotton swab. Make sure that you don't wet it too much, or it will buckle. Photocopied black and white pictures make great antique looking prints, if you treat them in the same way.

• You have some good news if you are a coin collector. Soak your old coin collection in Coke. This gives a brilliant shine for collections and decorative items.

• If you kettle is having limescales inside it, do not worry. Pour Coca Cola into your kettle and leave all day. This will remove limescale and makes it clean inside.

• Run out of toilet cleaning liquid? A can of Coke poured into the toilet will do the job. The acid in the drink gets to work right away.

• Suppose you have a badly burnt saucepan, you can clean it by pouring Coke into it and boiling. This takes out all the staining.

• You can clean your fading inexpensive jewelery in a glass of Coke. Brush with a toothbrush and rinse well. But do not try this on your valuable stuff, or those with gem stones in them.

• When you dye your hair and the result is too intense, flat Coca Cola will help to lighten it. Apply a smooth coat and wash after 10 minutes. Flat Coke also makes a good hair conditioner. Pour it over your hair, rinse and dry.

• By mixing Coke and Ketchup in equal measures you can make excellent barbecue sause. Marinate your chicken, beef etc in this mix before cooking. It's will be delicious.

• Pouring Coke into flat wide dishes in the garden will help to rid your plants of slugs. They are attracted by the sweet smell and once they fall in, they won't be able to get out.

• A little flat Coca Cola helps to settle upset stomachs. However taking fizzy fresh Coke could worsen the condition.

• Wrap a piece of cloth soaked in Coca Cola on rusty bolts and leave for a few hours. It will be easier to move now.

I have seen many videos in which people experiment with Coca Cola and Mentos. The visual effect is really special. Here is one of the videos that I liked.

But it makes me wonder if some kids decided to eat one or two mentos and then drink Coke what will happen to them? If the scenes depicted in those videos are any clue to go by................